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In today’s weigh-in show I’d like to champion the lost art of selfish… not that selfish which manifests as complete and utter disregard for everyone else you share the planet with. Certainly NOT that selfish that necessitated a colleague of mine clearing his clients luxury car of weeks old half-eaten take-away food and congealed-cappacinos before it could be dropped off for cleaning…

More-so I’d like to REFRAME the word ‘Selfish’ to an attitude of unrelenting focus that will get your best body gain results.

Selfish has born the brunt of negative connotations for too long now when really there is a whole lot of value to be experienced by learning the art of selfish.

To be focused on what you want, and to go after it need not be to the detriment of anyone else.

In fact with regard to health and body gain, to selfishly focus on what you want and commit to the process of making it happen can be advantageous to both yourself and everyone else.

=> Selfish is: the Oxygen Mask principal.

To be of any help to others you first need to look after yourself.

I train a dear lady who is pretty awesome at doing a big weekly cook-up – or two – of nutritious food to have on hand for those late nights when cooking dinner from scratch is a lot less attractive than the cheese and crackers on hand. The problem is, she regularly gives the food away to her young nephew and ends up consuming a rubbish dinner herself!

=> Selfish is also: the Not To Do List

What you get to say YES to – what you have the time, energy and money to say YES to – is first governed by what you choose to say no to.

Your not to do list needs to be pro-active. If you don’t consciously choose what not to do then the sad fact is that Not To Do list is going to get chocka block full of high value – even selfish – actions like exercising, meal planning and adequate sleep.

To quote Warren Buffet, “The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say “no” to almost everything.”  

=> Selfish is also: being ok with saying Yes to YOU.

Which means letting go of any guilt that by definition you can’t also say Yes to everyone else all of the time.

The thing with selfish is,

To be selfish in the short term can very often give you the opportunity to be incredibly generous in the long term.

Whether sticking to the schedule you set for yourself is helping you build the BODY or the BUSINESS you want the benefits of either reach well beyond you.

Financial freedom through a successful business is the easy one to understand so far as how that would let you positively impact the people you love.

However, my focus is on the body – and the healthy lifestyle it represents.

I believe creating the body you feel most confident, congruent, happy, healthy and energised in is at least as positively impactful on the people you love.

How to know what is good selfish and what is bad selfish?

I’m keen to hear your thoughts… however my belief is that it comes down to the OUTCOME your actions are propelling you towards.

Is this end result of this seemingly selfish act going to be for the greater good?

or it it just self absorbed or LAZY?

To get actionable today, this step is for YOU if you sometimes feel split in 50 directions… overwhelmed by everything you’ve said Yes too… frustrated that you’re not giving anything your best focus… and perhaps annoyed that some of the most important things keep ending up on your not to do list.

Let’s start small with one block of non-negotiable selfish time. You can call it precious ME TIME if that sits better with you.

For me, I pretty much devote ALL of Sunday to this.

My number one goal for Sunday is to feel rested and relaxed and fresh for the week to come.

That’s it for today… I’m off for some lovely, selfish ‘ME TIME’ – and that would be weights!

In tomorrows Thursday Training show I cover: What To Do When You Fall Out Of Love With Exercise. I hope you can join me.

If you liked this you’ll also like: Judgement: The zero value emotion that may be stalling your weight loss.

If you’re yet to share the Healthification love – just click here to zip over to iTunes and leave an honest rating and review. It’d help me out big time. With gratitude, Kate.